Gupta dynasty, rulers of the Magadha (now Bihar) state in northeastern India. They maintained an empire over northern and parts of central and western India from the early 4th to the late 6th century ce. The first ruler of the empire was Chandra Gupta I, who was succeeded by his son, the celebrated Samudra Gupta. The Gupta era produced the decimal system of notation and great Sanskrit epics and Hindu art and contributed to the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, and metallurgy.

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country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 29 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs; 6 less fully empowered union territories; and the Delhi national capital territory, which includes New Delhi, India’s...

state of eastern India. It is bounded by Nepal to the north and by the Indian states of West Bengal to the northeast and Uttar Pradesh to the west. In November 2000 the new state of Jharkhand was created from Bihar’s southern provinces and now forms the state’s southern and...

country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 29 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs; 6 less fully empowered union territories; and the Delhi national capital territory, which includes New Delhi, India’s...

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In the early AD 300s, about 1,700 years ago, there was no single ruler in the lands that are today India. Since about 200 BC each region had its own chief or prince. In AD 320 this began to change. A local chief named Chandra Gupta I increased his lands in the northern region. He married a princess whose family ruled a large area. Chandra Gupta’s reign began the Gupta dynasty. The Guptas ruled lands in what are now northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh until about 540.

For more than two centuries, from about AD 320 to 540, the Gupta Dynasty governed the northern half of the Indian subcontinent. This territory included much of the northern part of present-day India, most of Pakistan, and some of Bangladesh. The first ruler, Chandra Gupta I (not to be confused with Chandragupta, who founded the Mauryan Dynasty in about 321 BC), ruled from 320 to about 330. He began as a local chief in the kingdom of Magadha. By marrying a princess of the family that controlled Bihar, and perhaps Nepal, he increased his domain. By the time of his death, the kingdom was sufficiently large and powerful for his son and successor, Samudra Gupta (ruled to about 380), to begin the conquests that established the Gupta Empire.